THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, JUDGES WOULD ENGAGE IN BLATANT RACISM: AND THEY WERE RIGHT! “A black judge from western Pennsylvania rejected a plea agreement for a man accused of fighting with police during a traffic stop saying it was ‘a ridiculous plea that only goes to white boys.'”

UPDATE: Reader Dexter Van Zile writes: “Just one question, though. What happens if the judge is right and white kids DO get better plea agreements than African Americans? It’s not outside the realm of expected behavior. I want to see the data. Really.” Yeah, but a white judge who expressed himself the same way would get heat, wouldn’t he, regardless of the data?

THOSE CONTEMPLATING VOTER INTIMIDATION BEWARE: Study Finds Many iPhone Users Are Tea Party Supporters (Really). Hey, it’s a tool of personal empowerment.

On the other hand, this article, with its factually inaccurate anti “teabagger” snark, is pretty lame.

SHOWING MORE LOYALTY THAN HE SHOWED TO THE REPUBLICANS: Specter Will Campaign For Sestak. Then again, with Specter’s current popularity, maybe not . . . .

SO IS THIS HOPE, OR CHANGE? Voters Are Much Less Optimistic About Black-White Relations.

THE OTHER DAY, I WONDERED WHY STOCKS WERE GOING UP: Is it because Obama and the Democrats are polling badly?

UPDATE: A hedge-fund reader is not so optimistic:

A GOP takeover of the House, and the acquisition of a real blocking minority in the Senate, have long been priced into stocks. The latest surge higher in the Dow is folks betting on a Bernanke “put”…that the Fed will debase the dollar so much that prices will rise in nominal terms. Stocks aren’t going up in gold or Euro terms.

Ugh. That’s what I was afraid of.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Rich Get Richer Because The Fed Is Cheating You. “They’re trying to re-inflate the bubble.” Should’ve bought more gold.

LIST: Zombie Apocalypse Survival Supplies. It’s always about the zombies.

UPDATE: Reader Bob Evans writes: “Zombies don’t have an advocacy/grievance organization protecting their interests, so they make a convenient substitute for the REAL targets, which do have such organizations. People who use the word ‘zombie’ or ‘goblin’ to describe their foe are being less than candid.” Unless, you know, undead really are breaking down your door. But shoot ’em in the head and they go down, regardless.

CITIES FACE FINANCIAL CARNAGE.

Related: Broke cities turn to beleaguered states. “The increasingly common pleas for state assistance — after two relatively quiet decades — reflect the yawning local budget deficits that have appeared in the last two years. As tax revenue has fallen, the cost of providing labor-intensive government services, like teaching and policing, has proved hard to reduce. . . . But some public finance experts worry that the states, mired in their own financial problems, will not force communities to attack their problems head-on and solve them. If states let towns keep borrowing, without acknowledging the magnitude of the towns’ existing debts — like the pensions they owe retired public workers — they might never solve their problems and just keep drawing on the states. They could end up like miniature versions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, stuck in conservatorships under government oversight with no clear way out.”

Also: Just How Much Are Teachers Getting Paid?

EVEN IN CHICAGO, disappointment in Obama.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Murkowski’s ‘Alaska Mafia’ and the public dole.

THE WAR FOR CULTURAL HEGEMONY?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Anatomy of the Obama Meltdown. “As in all Greek tragedies, we the audience can see what might have happened had Obama avoided hubris and its attendant nemesis: If, from the get-go, he had focused on jobs; avoided talking about tax hikes; postponed health care; controlled spending; worried about rising deficits; avoided the ‘them vs. us’ rhetoric; and stayed Olympian and aloof when polarizing local controversies grabbed the cable TV headlines. And now? After November, Obama can only hope that he can outsource the messy work of cuts and budget balancing to the congressional Republicans. . . . In the meantime, an entire generation of Democratic House members and senators are going to pay a heavy price for falling for a clearly inexperienced, untried, and often petulant candidate amid the exuberance of the 2008 hope and change wave.”

A CALL FOR disclosure.

SUMMER OF RECOVERY: “If we keep recovering at this pace, the only sectors of the economy that will show any growth will be street corner retail pencil sales and windshield cleaning services.”

ED DRISCOLL: Hot Tub Time Machine. “What is it with the MSM always wanting, like their mid-century man in the White House, to go back to the future?”

IS THIS A PORTENT? Obama plans to be out of the country for 12 days following midterm election. “He will be away from the US for almost 12 days, one of the longest tours during his presidency, touching India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea, before returning to Washington DC on November 14.” I don’t know, but I think if he expected a stunning Democratic victory he’d have arranged to be around for a while to take credit.

WHO CORRECTLY PREDICTED THE TEA PARTY’S RISE? Hint: Not Dave Weigel. Not Joe Conason or Dave Neiwert, either. . . .

ED DRISCOLL: Green Supremacists.

Plus, Joe Biden threatens violence. Somebody tell Richard Cohen!

PUTTING IT IN TERMS NEW YORK MEDIA CAN UNDERSTAND: Tea Party Like Bedbugs. “My point being–they are many in number and nobody knows where they’re coming from, but they are powerful little suckers.”

UPDATE: A reader emails that in both cases, “the incompetence of our nation’s ‘leaders’ is a direct cause of their spread.” Heh.

ALLEN WEST TO OBAMA: “Heck, I’ll Even Debate You and Klein Together.”

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “Adam West could handle Klein and Obama in a debate.”

HEH: Dear Media Jews: Super Sorry. Love, Rick Sanchez. “At last count, Sanchez’s book scanned just over 800 copies in its first week of release, so all of the free time to promote will be welcome.”

WAR AGAINST SCIENCE UPDATE: They told me if I voted for John McCain, politicized science would be the order of the day, and dissenting scientists would be squelched. And they were right! “The Obama administration blocked efforts by government scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could become and made other missteps that raised questions about its competence and candor during the crisis, according to a commission appointed by the president to investigate the disaster. . . . Among other things, the report says, the administration made erroneous early estimates of the spill’s size, and President Barack Obama’s senior energy adviser went on national TV and mischaracterized a government analysis by saying it showed most of the oil was ‘gone.’ The analysis actually said it could still be there.”

STACKING THE DECK in favor of Big Government.

PJTV: Big Green, Part 2: The Big Business of Scaring America to Death. On YouTube, so it’s free for everyone without registration.

AT YALE, they don’t want “law zombies.” Zombies are everywhere, these days.

“CLOAKING DEVICE” BOLDLY DELIVERS TOXINS TO TUMOR. Faster, please.